Guide to selecting an SSD

The secret lies in the NAND flash chips!

SSDs are a solid choice for your PC as an upgrade or add-on because of their remarkable performance.
They are many times faster than traditional HDDs and produce much less noise. For mobile devices, SSDs
are an especially good choice due to their high shock-resistance and low energy consumption. Upgrading
to an SSD from a traditional HDD, or installing a backup SSD in a desktop or laptop, can contribute to
faster load and access times, without needing to spend significantly more on a brand-new system.

Shock Resistant

Super Fast

Energy Efficient

Composition of SSD storage devices

A solid-state drive is composed of three main components: a controller, DRAM memory, and NAND flash.
The controller serves as the main connector between the NAND flash and your computer. NAND flash
chips are blocks of non-volatile memory where data is stored. Unlike NAND flash, DRAM is volatile
memory that must be powered on to hold data. However, DRAM is not a mandatory component of every
SSD. Certain SSDs are sold without DRAM, making them suitable for customers on a tight budget.

Controller

NAND Flash

DRAM

SLC

MLC

TLC

Bit per cell

1

2

3

Performance

★★★

★★

★

P/E Cycle

50,000

3,000

< 1,500

Power Consumption

Low

Low

Average

Cost

$$$

$$

$

Application

Embedded

Embedded / Consumer

Consumer

Types of NAND flash

NAND flash types include Single Level Cell (SLC), Multi-Level Cell (MLC), and Triple Level Cell
(TLC). SLC is the fastest, with the longest lifespan—up to 50,000 P/E cycles, but has the downside
of being the most expensive, and available only in smaller capacities. MLC is less expensive, but
provides better performance and reliability than TLC—up to 3,000 P/E cycles—which is just fine for
everyday computing use and gaming. TLC, meanwhile, is the cheapest, with fewer than 1,500 P/E
cycles, which is good enough for consumer applications.

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